Council of Europe Secretary-General Thorbjorn Jagland has called on the Dutch government to distance itself from a Dutch website for reporting complaints about East European migrants.

The website was set up by the anti-immigration Freedom Party (PVV). The site asks people to report anonymously cases in which they have been disadvantaged by Central and Middle East European migrants. The complaints can range from anything as petty as taking your parking place, to taking your job. There has been a great deal of commotion about the website both in the Netherlands and abroad.

Mr Jagland said, “I am very concerned because the website has been set up by a political party, which is linked to the government.” The Dutch minority government relies on parliamentary support from the PVV to govern the country. In a letter to Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal, Mr Jagland calls on the government to speak out publicly against the site, which he says is generally regarded as xenophobic.

In response, a spokesperson for the foreign minister reiterated the government’s view that the website is the PVV's responsibility. He added that political parties are, within the limits of the law, at liberty to take such initiatives.

The same message was given last week to ten ambassadors from Central and East European countries, who in an open letter called the website “discriminatory and denigrating”.

(nc/imm/kh)

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